Champions Online is going free-to-play next year, and with it comes the introduction of the Archetype system. Cryptic already compared the pre-defined builds to the paid free-form heroes in the first part of its Archetype rundown, and the second part reveals the eight Archetypes players can expect to see at the F2P launch. Here's a breakdown of the Archetypes by their roles:

• Avenger: The Inferno, The Soldier
• Guardian: The Savage, The Grimoire
• Protector: The Behemoth, The Glacier
• Brawler: The Blade
• Sentinel: The Mind

These roles are fixed and cannot be changed on the fly. Here's Cryptic's take on the system: "We've aimed to make each of these Archetypes feel like they had a niche slightly smaller than that defined by their role. For example, The Inferno is very focused on AoE powers, whereas The Savage has some AoE damage, but is much more focused on single targets."

For more in-depth details on the Archetypes, check out Cryptic's new Archetype descriptions page. The free-to-play beta just kicked off today, so don't be surprised if some of these details change before the new service launches in 2011.

Cryptic announced a couple weeks ago that Champions Online will be going free-to-play in 2011. The change will allow F2P players, also known as Silver players, to create characters using the Archetype system, which is a pre-defined hero build. Cryptic has provided more details on Archetypes and how they compare to paid free-form heroes:

"First of all, you'll see that Archetypes get fewer powers (11 total) than free-form heroes do (14 total). We found that all 14 powers weren't necessary for most builds; players usually pick up some extra powers to fill in holes. This makes high level free-form heroes capable of filling in for practically any role needed. Archetypes, however, are more like comic heroes. They don't switch roles; they do their one thing really well. It lets us make more interesting and varied Archetypes as time goes on, too."

Interested players should definitely check out the article for more information. Cryptic plans to unveil information on the base archetypes this week. What are your thought on the new system?

When Champions Online (CO) originally made it out the door last year, there was no doubt that this was a game that needed more polish and content if it wanted to compete in the industry. While character creation and customization in CO were beyond top-notch, the game suffered from repetitive and sparse leveling content in addition to having significant problems with pacing; giving players everything they wanted in the first ten levels, but being unable to continue that rate of delivery in the levels beyond. Moving forward to a year later and, while there are still some problems with pacing in the game, the content situation has been addressed fairly significantly in the form of reworked zones (and more revamps on the way) and a few "Adventure Packs" for players to enjoy. In fact, given some more time and development, Champions Online would have done a decent job of surviving in an industry where one superhero MMORPG ought to have been good enough but, for some strange reason, we will have three by next year (City of Heroes, Champions Online and DC Universe Online).

STO's Executive Producer, Dan Stahl, has another massive slew of questions to answer in this month's "Ask Cryptic," where he confirms two big things: Champions Online going F2P will have no effect on Star Trek Online and that the Star Trek Online team is planning to implement the Romulans as a new playable race, but as they have learned from the undeveloped Klingons, Cryptic wants this new race to be a "big endeavour," like giving the Romulans their own ships and storyline content. In other words, a fully developed new race.

You can check out more of DStahl's answers (there's a lot of them!) over at the Star Trek Online website.

The Blood Moon has risen once again in Champions Online! During the Halloween-themed event, players will have the chance to battle werewolves, zombies and Takofanes, the Undying Lord. The moon will set on Nov. 2, so be sure to log in this weekend if you'd like to participate.

While Star Trek Online might not be hosting a specific Halloween event, Cryptic designed Feature Episode 3: What Lies Beneath to be spooky and fun. Players must find out what haunts the lower levels of a 200-year-old space station. The episode debuts on Oct. 30 at 11 a.m. PDT.

Also, Cryptic is hosting Halloween costumes sales in both the Champions Online Store and the Star Trek Online Store. Enjoy 20% off costumes until Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. PDT! Now would be the perfect time to pick up the new Seven of Nine costume in Star Trek Online.

Champions Online is going free-to-play in 2011! Executive Producer Shannon Posniewski just posted a massive State of the Game address outlining this major change, and it's certainly a lot to digest. In addition to the subscription switch, the update will also bring changes to powers, advancement and content.

Let's focus on the powers first. The big change is that Cryptic will be introducing Heroic Archetypes to the game, which will specify which powers you earn as you level up. For example, choose "The Brute" Archetype and you'll be dishing out melee damage with some survivability thrown in the mix. There will be at least eight Archetypes available once the F2P update is live.

Free-to-play players will have to get used to Archetypes, because it's how they will create their characters. Players can either become Gold Members for $14.99 a month and get access to everything the game has to offer, or become free-to-play Silver Members with certain restrictions. One major restriction is that Silver Members can only create heroes by choosing an Archetype. You can check out all the differences between the Gold and Siver memberships on Cryptic's F2P features matrix.

The Qliphothic Realm has arrived with super bad-guy Luther Black, and players will now have the opportunity to fight back as CO's "Demonflame" adventure pack is now live! Included with this new adventure pack comes a ton of new perks to be gotten, in addition to some new costume pieces (all of which are very... purple), a brand new realm in the form of the Qliphotic Realm and its towering demon spires, and some great new content for players from level 11-40. You can check out the full patch notes on the Champions Online website, or if you want it in a more distilled video format, be sure to check out the Demonflame trailer, also on the Champions Online website!

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of "save the world" scenarios revolve around "bad guy attempts evil plot, bad guy is thwarted, now bad guy has returned to try again?" This time around, Champions Online players will be embarking on their own "save the world" scenario to... well... save the world from the evil archmage "Luther Black."

This adventure pack, dubbed "Demonflame," will be the second adventure pack to hit Champions Online, and in it, players will make their epic journey into the Qliphothic realm to battle demons and monsters to stop Luther Black from summoning Sharna-Gorak the Destroyer.

This new adventure pack will feature a pile of content for champions from level 11 all the way to 40, and it will include both group and solo play. You will also be able to earn UNTIL merits from Project Hermes to buy special costume pieces, action figures, devices and more! Time to save the world, heroes!

If you've been wanting to try out Champions Online but don't feel like paying $20 for it, then this is your lucky week. Cryptic has partned with Direct2Drive and Steam to provide a full retail version of the game for only $6. For the price of a fast food meal, you could buy the game and enjoy the 30-day free trial that comes with it.

This offer will only last for a week, so consider making an impulse buy before the 70% off sale ends. Think of it as a way to celebrate the recent one-year anniversary of Champions Online.

Happy Anniversary, Champions Online! The team has decided to celebrate their big one-year anniversary with players by giving everyone the opportunity to play CO for free from September 1st to September 7th! Even for players who have never purchased the game before, you can still check out this awesome MMO if you would just sign up on the Champions Online website. In addition to celebrating their one year anniversary with some awesome free game time, the CO team is also planning to throw a massive C-Store sale for all players, giving a whopping 20% discount on nearly everything in the C-Store, in addition to some special in-game events that will be running throughout their Anniversary Celebrations. So be sure to check out Champions Online from September 1st to the 7th, starting at 10:00 AM, and get your free gaming on!